This is a question that we are asked regularly, as there are many businesses that provide eye protection for their staff.  Or even individuals that care about their vision.  So what do you need?  Firstly, you need a current optical prescription, preferably less than 12 months old.  If it has a pupil distance (PD) measurement mentioned, along with lens advice so much the better.  But really all you need is a basic optical prescription.

Secondly, you need to know which frame you would like to have.  Be it positively sealed, more like standard spectacles, or even sporty wrap-around safety frame.  Then once you have the frame style and colour noted.  We need to choose some lenses, this is where we can help if you don’t know exactly what you need.

Firstly with respect to lenses you need to choose a type such as single vision, bifocal or progressive lenses.  To explain these options a bit further, single vision refers to having one prescription in the lens, so it is designed to do one thing.  Such as improve your distance vision or reading.  Bifocal lenses enable you to have two different prescriptions in the lenses, the distance prescription at the top and then the reading section surrounded by a line.

Progressive lenses, on the other hand, have been known by many different names.  These include multi-focal, vari-focal or even graduated lenses.  All of these terms are referring to the same thing, a lens that has your distance prescription at the top of the lens, in front of your eyes and the reading prescription at the bottom of the lens and the prescription changes from the top to the bottom of the lens to cover your intermediate (computer distance), and everything in between.  There are no lines on these lenses.  But the trade-off is that you do not get to use the whole lens to see.  There is decreased peripheral vision, so you need to turn your head to see clearly and you can not read with a progressive lens laying down.  Due to the position of the reading portion of this lens being at the bottom of the lens, you would need to contort your neck at a very unnatural angle to be able to get that part of the lens infant of your eyes.  This being said, if you love reading laying down, then single-vision reading glasses are your best and only option.

Once you have your lens type determined and don’t forget, we can help with this.  You need to know whether you want the lenses to be clear (this is how they come unless you choose a lens extra option).  You can have them tinted or polarised (so they are like sunglasses all of the time).  Or even transition which is a photochromic option that changes from clear to grey tinted lenses in sunlight.

There are also lens coatings that are available, the lenses all come with a hard coating to help prevent scratching at no extra cost.  You can choose to have an anti-reflective coating added (this coating helps deflect oncoming headlights from your lenses and also helps with reflections from fluorescent lights.)  There is now a blue-blocking version available on certain safety frames.  We can also add mirror coatings to certain frames, but customers need to know that with a mirror coating the certification only becomes compliant, not certified.

To round up you really only need a copy of a current optical prescription and know which frame you would like.  We can help you with the rest.